Tennessee is considered to be one of the least healthy states in the nation, but a report from the state Department of Health finds that the situation is especially bad for African-Americans.
According to the report, African-Americans are less likely to have health insurance or access to preventative care and health screenings. They experience higher rates of heart disease and chronic conditions.
African Americans with cancer are more likely to die than whites. For instance, while white women are 12 percent more likely to have breast cancer, the mortality rate for that disease among African American women is nearly fifty percent higher.
And the African American infant mortality rate is two and a half times higher than that of whites and worse than the infant death rate for blacks in any other Southern state.
Robbie Jackman directs the Office of Minority Health. She says the
department is using the information as a springboard to conduct forums with minority communities.
“And we will ask them, ‘What two or three issues do you want to deal with as a priority? What do you want to start with? Where are you already working?’ You see people are already working, we’re not going to a blank situation where there’s nothing being done, there’s nothing being talked about, or people don’t care. We’re talking about people who are just overwhelmed with the numbers.”
The state’s annual minority health summit will have a similar focus. The event takes place next month in Knoxville.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM